Christmas dogs, seen in Stanley. My first visit here in almost exactly 10 years.

They’re very much not on the naughty list.

A little temple in Stanley. I love a little temple.

Stanley waterfront. Remember to wear a mask to avoid a fine, but also remember that wearing a mask is also illegal.

A surprisingly warm day in the sunshine. I needed to hear the sound of the sea today. When you have things on your kind, the sheer impossible ageless nature of the ocean can be briefly calming.

Hong Kong’s cutest little Park ‘n’ Shop supermarket. Stanley may too posh for its own good.

I think I've only ever been to Stanley 4 or 5 times in all. It's a fairly upmarket place, full of ridiculously expensive residential units mixed with an incongruously cheap market street for the day tourist crowd.

Yesterday was the first time I got off at Stanley Plaza.

The whole of Stanley is quite vertical, clustered onto the side of the hills rolling down to the sea. Even this fancy shopping mall is spread out over multiple levels winding their way down.

Deescalation. I guess the lights only get turned on after dark.

Panorama of the main waterfront area at Stanley. The family with the tiny girl in a Santa outfit was adorable. The li'l peanut was fascinated with a bush, dad was taking a thousand photos of her childlike wonder with his big camera, and mum was photographing them both.

The waterfront has a row of bars and restaurants that would be a lovely place to have a quiet drink of an evening, the sounds of the waves nearby. Too crowded for my personal taste even without a pandemic, I was just here for a walk in the sunshine.

This thread was slightly disordered, as I wasn't of a mood to livetweet it all yesterday. Here is more footage of Christmas good boys and good girls in Stanley. Just as in Sai Kung, the waterfront seems to be a place everyone takes dogs and babies on weekends and holidays.

A view across the water at Stanley. There's a ferry pier, over by Murray House, that goes to a little outlying island called Po Toi. I wish I'd had time to go explore that place I've never been.

Here's an unnecessarily long one-shot of a walk along the back of the food stalls at the other end of the promenade, for those who need it.

The famous Stanley Market, is on the curiously named Stanley Main Street. Curious because it is one of the smallest little pedestrian streets in Hong Kong. Lots of the little shops had 20% off signs, a lovely old fella who sold me a bag said business has been very hard this year.

A little further along, the junction where I found some shutter art for my collection, and a little path leading up to the main road with the cute supermarket in an old building.

Assorted shots of Stanley, from the bottom of the market to the road at the top.

Back up on the main road, looking back down into Stanley Market. It's just a very short walk to the main bus terminus here.

And by very short walk, I mean less than 100m. The bus terminus is across the road behind me at this point and where I usually arrived in Stanley. The only way in to this town is by road, so car, taxi, or bus depending on how rich you are.

And finally, click the link for a ridiculously indulgent 35 minute continuous shot of the bus ride from Stanley Market to Wan Chai, via the coast road through Repulse Bay, taken from the front of the top deck.

Pro-tip: sit on the right of the bus (260 or 6) going to Stanley, but on the left when leaving. This will get you stunning oceanside views from a road that winds along the hillside.

Nobody will watch that entire video, but skip to the end for the unique views coming back into HK